Chapter 12 Who’s The Boss

Bella looked around. Civilians scattered the area. Her heart sank at the possible casualties. She took in a breath and bravely went to step around her father. He growled and forced her back.

“Hulk, I need to talk to the soldiers. Just try and trust me.”

He and Red Hulk locked eyes. Both growled under they’re breathes, both had their hands in fists. Hulk let her step out, but he kept her directly beside him.

“You don’t want to do this. You are US soldiers. Remember what you stand for! Look around you! These are the ones we’re meant to protect! Hulk is not your enemy you all know this! You’ve fought alongside of him before and now you stand against him?!”

They all looked to one another.
“YOU WERE GIVEN AN ORDER KILL ON SIGHT!” The Red Hulk thunders.

Hulk swiftly pushes his daughter back behind him as Red Hulk dives right for her. The entire earth beneath them begins to shake and crumble as the two Hulks collide. Guns are going off. Bella’s entire body trembles as she looks to the men, women, and children around them. A bullet ricocheted and hit a citizen. Bella snapped back at the soldier responsible. A growl that no one’s ever heard before escaped her mouth. Her eyes flashed that of neon green for a moment. The soldier swallowed back nervously as he caught this. She Hulk was now unleashed. She ripped the gun from his hold and snapped it in half with her bare hands. She tossed it on to the ground. She Hulk then turned and picked up the man that was shot. Hulk and Red Hulk continued to battle it out destroying everything in their path. She Hulk did her best to avoid bullets and get the innocents to safety.

Her direction was turned to a little boy who was lost. He was no older than four if that. He looked upon the two monstrous forms in the middle of the street. He screamed out in terror, big tears rolled down his face. She Hulk rushed over and grabbed him. She wrapped her entire body around him as bullets continued to fly.

“ANTHONY!” She Hulk heard the mother shouting. She looked that direction.

She hurriedly made her way over and handed the child off. She Hulk did a total scan of the area. Once she saw the area was clear she went to join her father. However, now all men aimed their guns upon She Hulk.

“KILL HER!” Red Hulk commanded.

Hulk took both his hands and smashed Red Hulk into another building. He slammed his fists in the earth knocking the soldiers on their asses. Some even flew into the air at the mere impact. Red Hulk came soaring back grabbed She Hulk by the waist he rushed her through an entire building. She growled throughout the impact. Once her body came to a full stop, she fired right back, with both hands against his temples. He shook his head as his ears began to ring. She brought up her knees and shot her legs out, sending out a powerful jolt back. Hulk stood directly behind him. He grabbed him by the throat and tossed him back behind him. He body slammed him. She Hulk dashed back out to help. The soldier’s hands shook as they continued to aim at She Hulk.

She rolled her eyes upon them and went back to helping. She and Hulk gained up on the Red Hulk. Within a matter of minutes, more shots were fired all directed at She Hulk. She turned around and pointed directly at them.

“I WILL NOT FIGHT YOU! KNOCK IT OFF!”

They looked to one another confused.

“I’M AN AVENGER DAMMIT!” She cries out.

Red Hulk tosses an eight wheeler at Hulk. It explodes against him on impact. Red Hulk sails across the area. She Hulk swiftly turns and tosses cars and trucks whatever she can his way. He dodges them and reaches over he grabs her and slams her entire body against his knee. She gasps back. He throws her down.

“END HER!”
The soldiers nod and fire. Her body convulses through the hits.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Hulk thunders so loud the entire area begins to quack. Glass to surrounding buildings and vehicles shattered.

He knocks Red Hulk through five buildings.

He bounds over and picks her up. Hulk doesn’t even look back he takes off running. He runs as fast as he can. Fury, Black Widow, and Hawkeye arrive just in time to see Hulk take off with his daughter. They begin to do what they can to fight off and distract the Red Hulk.

Hulk didn’t stop until he knew they were safe. He laid his daughter down. He gently nudged her with his hand. She wouldn’t budge. He tried again. Her heart rate was very faint. He saw the amount of hits she’d taken. Massive amounts of bullets were launched into her body.

“Bella…” He whimpered out a tear coming down his face. Hulk realized she’d taken a hit to the head as well.

He picked her up again. Hulk couldn’t switch out of his form at the moment. Anger filled his heart. He held her against his chest and took off running again.

“BRACE YOURSELF!” Captain America shouted.

Captain America immediately crouched down and covered himself with his shield. Iron Man shot up into the sky to avoid the explosion. Both men however, sail back from the multiple detonations. Iron Man came plummeting down at great haste. Steve was buried a good 4 feet into the earth. He was covered in soot and pieces of Hulk Dogs. He came to his feet and crawled out of the ground.

“Stark!” He shouted.

He rushed over. He rolled Iron Man over. The entire front of armor on his face had been peeled back.

“Come on Stark! No time for naps!”

Iron Man chokes back a bit as he starts to come to. He holds up a thumb.

“I’m good!”

Captain America smiles.

“That’s good to know. Now get up you bum!”

“I do love our little pep talks!”

Bella rolls over in Hulk’s hold. He looks down as he feels her coming to. They were out in the middle of nowhere. She looked around trying to figure out where they were. Hulk checked her over thoroughly then placed her down.

“Where are we?”

He simply lets out a huffy breath. Bella sighs.

“Good to know!”

He growls a bit. Bella pats him on the arm.

“From the looks of things, I’m going to go with Canada?”

He nods. She notices how he continues to tremble. That certain look in his eyes.

“I’m ok…” She says softly.

He shakes his head and growls again.

“Come on Bruce…”

There was just no coming down for him now. He continued to huff and puff in anger. He paced around the area. Bella takes in a deep breath.

“We might need to go home now…”

He rapidly turns.

“NO!” He bellows.

“Bruce!”

“HULK!” He barks back.

“No Bruce… Come to me… Let’s go home.”

“NOOOOOOOOO!”
Her hair flies back as he rumbles in her face.

“We have to! Other lives are at risk! I’m not that vulnerable Bruce! People could die if they’re not already! Please! We must go back! It’s our job!”

He slams his fist down.

“HULK MAD! HULK STAY! BELLA STAY!”
She narrows her eyes realizing that’s the most she’d ever heard him say. She couldn’t believe he’d said her name.

“No Hulk. Bella goes back and fights. She’s an Avenger now. Just like you. It’s what we do. I’m going back. I’m doing my job. It’s up to you to tag along.”
Bella goes to walk away, but she freezes as she hears the word.

“Please?”

Her heart sank at this. She slowly turned and saw the desperation in his face. She reached out and took his hand. She merely shook her head no. She couldn’t muster any words out of fear she’d start to cry. This was a side of Hulk she’d never seen.

She held his hand as they began their way back. He groaned off and on and snorted out big breathes of agitation. Every once in a while he punches out a tree or sign, throwing little temper tantrums on the way back.

Hawkeye fires an arrow directly at Red Hulk’s forehead. Fury and Black Widow continue to fire. Meanwhile, Ross’s men look confused. With no Hulk or She Hulk around they had no potential target. That was the only orders they were given. They were doing this out of fear. Once Red Hulk realized Hulk and She Hulk still hadn’t returned he called to his men. He decided to pack it up and return with more men. Black Widow nudges Hawkeye they take notice of how Red Hulk seemed to be staggering a bit as he took his leave. They looked to one another oddly.

Fury puts his hands upon his hips a couple hours later. He sees Bella holding Hulk’s hand as they’ve returned. He shakes his head on this.

“Only you Swan.”
“Roger’s sir.”

He grins.
“That’s right. I’ll have to remember that.”
She looks around and drops her hold.

“Casualties?”

“One causalities, five injured…”

She nodded with a grimace.

“The causality?”

“An unfortunate victim was stepped on, once things got closer to town. The body hasn’t been identified yet. Seemed to be a male other than that, that’s all we know.”

“You know you should really consider losing some weight Captain! You’re getting a bit on the heavy side.”

Captain America however, was only focused on one thing. He locked eyes with his wife. They nodded towards one another.

“Is everyone alright?” He questioned his gaze still upon her.

“Yes Captain everyone’s fine.” She answers.

He nods in relief. He forces his focus off her and looks around to the damage. Fury gives him a rundown of what took place. Bella noticed that her father still, hadn’t come down from his Hulk phase. This caused her concern.

She darted a certain direction. She heard a cry for help from a distance. She rushed over. The others turned to her in wonder. Bella lifted a piece of metal off a soldier. The very one that had fired the bullet that hit the innocent. She shook her head on this and lifted him into the air.

“You’ve been saved. Not that you deserve it. To serve this country means that you would die for it. Not fight against it. You put a civilian in potential risk. They are in the hospital trying to recover because of you! You serve that monster out of fear, not pride. You’re a fool not a man.”

“Please, Ms. I’m sorry! But he has threatened the lives of our loved ones!”

She lowers him down.

“How do you mean?”

“He keeps them imprisoned on the base. If we fail to meet his goal he will begin executing them one by one!”

“He?” She looks to him in confusion.

“Yes… He is our General after all.”

Bella turned towards her husband and father. She looked as though she’d be sick.

“You’re telling me that monster is General Ross?”

He nods.

“How?!”

She brought him up against her chest furiously.

“He’s injected himself with your DNA.”

Hulk slams his fist into a nearby car. He growls and starts to rush over. Bella holds up a hand.

“No Hulk. We need him and it seems he’s got a good reason even if not exactly ethical.” She drags him over to her husband.

“That would explain the Hulk Dogs.” Iron Man mentions to Captain America about her DNA.

“Tell the Captain everything you know.”

She hands the man over. Captain America nods and grabs the man by the arm dragging him along. They all head back to headquarters. Captain America looked to Hulk as well in concern. He’d wondered what all took place during their absence. He noticed how Hulk kept a watchful eye on Bella, the entire time. They both grimaced as Bella took out a remaining bullet that had been lodged in her arm. She’d had her teeth ground in pain until the area healed. She then tossed the bullet in the trash. Unlike her father she had to take the hits then heal from it. Hulk’s body merely deflected. Bella downed a bottle of water. She tossed the soldier a bottle as well. Captain America lowered his hood. He sat the man down on the couch and sit across from him.

“What’s your name and rank?”

“Private Nathan Smith 2nd class sir.”

Captain America nods.

“And which loved ones of yours does General Ross hold captive?”

“My wife and son sir. The General he’s not himself sir. He’s…”

Everyone in the room winced and shook their head. Bella had a wave of guilt hit on how she’d treated the man. She pinched the bridge of her nose and looked out the window in thought.

“How old is your son?” She questioned.

“He’s three.”

She takes in an ill breath.

“General Ross has lost his mind, ever since this thing took over him. He runs thing more like that of a tyrant now. We have no say in anything or it’s death for us or our loved ones. Even when the beast has left the building, he’s still very much a monster.”

Captain America and Bella look to him.

“So he can switch it on and off?” Bella questions.

“Yes Ms. It’s not easy as he stays mad quite often, but yes he can.”
She looks to her father in thought.

“So he’s coherent and can change at will or for the most part.”

Natasha clears her throat. She and Clint share a glance.

“It could just be our imagination, but Barton and I both agreed that he looked somewhat weaker when he left. In fact I’d go as far as to say that’s why he left. He was stumbling around like he was drunk.”

Bella nods.

“And why red?” Barton put out there.

“That’s what I was wondering.” Bella admitted.

Tony and Steve look to one another.

“Red?” Steve inquires.

“Yes, he was a nice shade of vibrant red. He looked downright demonic. His eyes were even red with black pupils.” She utters in thought.

Bella begins to set up a lab. She takes a sample of her own blood. She then looks to everyone in the room. She smiles upon Tony and waves him over.

“What?”

He questions, before he can even get an answer she sticks him with a needle and takes a sample of his blood.

“OUCH!” He complains.

“Thanks!”
“Yeah, don’t mention it.”

“OK, I won’t.”

She begins to add drops of Tony’s DNA with hers. She watches curiously zooming in and out. She raises her head back up and looks to her father with confusion.

“It’s resilient and all over the place.” She shuts her eyes for a moment looking to be in thought.

“It’s strand is stronger than both of ours.” She says to Hulk.

She runs her fingers through her hair and paces around in thought.

“But how… you’re the main host! I’m your flesh and blood … born with the gamma radiation already within me. None of this makes sense. How can a human inject themselves and become stronger than us? This isn’t logical nothing about it makes a lick of sense. It’s…”

Tony waves her over as he’s taking a gander as well.

“What?”

“Just have a look. Not so sure what it means, but since Banner’s officially out for the time being…” He looks to Hulk as though he’s a child needing to be punished.

Hulk lets out a soft growl his direction. Tony gives him a wink.

“No hard feelings of course!”

“What’s it doing?”
Bella utters to herself.

“Haven’t a clue.”

“Don’t move that slide. I want to keep an eye on it off and on. See if there’s anything else we can pick up.”

“Who died and made you queen?”

“I mean it Tony. The slide stays put!” She points to him scornfully.

It was a known fact that Tony was bad about messing with Bruce’s things. He rises up his hands in defense.

“Alright!”

Tony looks to Steve as she heads to the locker room.

“I thought you were the captain.”

Steve grins shaking his head.

Bella stepped out of her clothes or what was left of them. Bullet holes filled them like Swiss cheese. She put her fingers through a couple of them in thought. She started her shower and stepped under the warm water. Bella had scrubbed down her body and went to wash her hair. She narrowed her eyes feeling something within the area of her skull. Chills filled her entire body, she ran her fingers along the metal. She then plucked it out. Within her palm was another bullet, the one that had her pass out cold. She shut her eyes for a moment, realizing she just survived a bullet to the fucking head. Any human would have died and at the angle it was in it should have gone straight through her brain.

She continued to look at the bullet in horror. She hadn’t seen her husband peeking into the shower.

“Everything ok?”

Bella shook her head. She showed him the bullet. He lowered his brows and looked to it.

“Where’d you find that one?”

“My head…”

His eyes widened.

“Pretty sexy huh?” She says with a wrinkled nose.

He takes the bullet from her hand.

“You’re alive, so yes, to me that’s pretty sexy.” He states with a wink.

“I brought you up something. It’s new…”

“New?”
He smiles.

“You’re an Avenger now, might as well have your own suit.”

“And whom do I owe the honors?”

“I come up with the design. Tony did all the hard work.”

She shuts off the water. He hands her a towel.

“Thanks.”
He nods and she steps out as she dries off.

“So where were you and Tony sent off to?”

“A trap obviously this was all a set up to get to you and Bruce. I’m sorry, I hadn’t any idea. Neither did Fury.”

“Something tells me Fury needs to do a more thorough check, on who’s working for him. That’s twice now. With Nelson out of the picture this shouldn’t be a continuous thing.”

“I agree.”

She looks over to what Steve had set out.

“Did you say suit or swimsuit? She eyes the little white and purple number.”

He grins and shrugs a bit. She looks to her husband and shakes her head.

“I’m not wearing that. Not to fight in.”

“Just give it a try.”

She sighs and puts it on. His eyes practically bulged out at the mere sight.

“I say it’s a go!” He declares.

“Ugh I look like a ….”

However, she looks in the mirror. It wasn’t near a slutty looking as she feared it would look. It covered everything yet kept her feminine and rather sexy looking. Steve covered his mouth to keep from laughing as she was checking herself out. She even ran her hands along her ass in the mirror.

“OK it’s actually not so bad.”

“So I did good?” He questions like a child earning a first place ribbon.
“Yes Steve you did good.”
She said with a small laugh. He hands her the white Converse shoes to go with it.

“Cool.”

He nods and watches as she finishes getting ready.

“Now that I need as wallpaper on my phone.”

She looks to him curiously.

“What’s on there right now?”

He swallows back and shrugs.

“Dunno.”

She grins and holds out her hand.

“It’s not on me right now.”

“You’re a horrible liar Captain!”

She reaches over and digs into his outfit.

“Well by all means…”

She finds the phone and he pinches his eyes shut for a moment.

“Let me guess some bikini girl or biker chick?” She smarts.

Bella opens it and covers her mouth.

“Steve!”

He chuckles a bit.

“When did you take this?”

“While you were sleeping.”

“Obviously!”

It was a picture of her in nothing, but a pair of white silk bikini underwear. She was on Steve’s bed asleep.

“I sure hope no one ask to borrow your phone.”

“Me too!”

She laughs and hands his phone back. She brushes her hair and when she turns back around he takes a couple of pics.

“Steve?!”

“What?!”

She makes her way over and straightens out his Captain America suit. Her hands run along the white star. She pulls his hood back over and kisses his lips. They press their foreheads together holding one another for a brief moment.

“Time to get back to work.”

Bella nods in agreement. He takes her hand and leads her out of the room. The others were already ready. Bella came to a complete stop once a familiar image dropped down from the sky. She smiled and ran outside to greet him.

“Thor…”

He smiled and nodded. He opened his arms and he embraced her in a warm hug.

“I’m so thankful you’re alright.”

The other Avengers looked on from headquarters. Tony smiled Steve’s way. Steve merely shrugged and took a seat.

“Weren’t we about to go?”
“It can wait. I’m sure Thor will want to join us. Let them both get settled first.”

“So you’re not the least bit jealous.”

“She is my wife Stark.”

“That doesn’t truly answer my question now does it?”

Steve looks around.

“Where’s Hulk?”

“He went on ahead.”

Steve sighs.

“Well that can’t be good.”

“Is it ever?” Tony wits.

“What the hell?!” Steve mutters angrily.

The others look outside as well now.

What was being said outside…

“How is everything back home?”

“Better now, but I cannot stay long I’m afraid.”

“I understand. We’ve got our hands full here to. How is your father?”

He smiles.

“He’s quite well he sends his regards.”
Thor takes her hand and looks to the ring.

“So it is done?”

Bella rather beams.

“It seems so.”

Thor sighs as if with disappointment. Bella looks to him oddly.

“What is it Thor?”

“I must be honest. I apologize. It seems I haven’t been the friend you thought I was. I’m a coward. And I’ve dishonored you.”

Bella narrows her eyes a bit in wonder.

“Just how could you ever do that Thor?”
“Trust me I have. I could have come to the wedding, but did not.”

“Um ok and why’s that?”

He puts a caressing hand upon her cheek.

“It seems I have done something terrible.”

“What is it Thor?”

He leans in as if to kiss her. His lips are just about to touch hers. She grabs him roughly by the chin and forces him back.

“What the fuck are you doing Thor?”

He sighs and presses his forehead against hers.

“I’ve guilt-ridden feelings.”

She looks to him oddly. He nods as if ashamed.

“I’m in love with you Isabella.”

She raises her brows on this and simply nods.

“Go home to your father Thor. I must go lives are at stake. We do not have time to discuss these matters of the heart.”

Thor nods he takes her hand and kisses it. Bella watches as he vanishes. She rolls her eyes and heads inside.

Steve instantly cut her a straight to hell glance.

“He tried to kiss you and that’s your reaction?!”

She nods and folds her arms about her chest. He shakes his head.

“Is there something I should know?!”

She nods again. Steve flinches and looked as though he’d got stabbed. She sighs and looks to her husband.

“You really think so little of me?”

He looks to her peculiarly.

“That wasn’t Thor! It was his fucking brother Steve!”

He shuts his eyes as the guilt washes over him.

“I had to play along. Thor’s obviously in trouble. If I had given any kind of sign that I knew. That could only make matters worse.”

She comes to her feet.

“I know what I’m doing. Loki’s known for these sorts of schemes and how you just reacted. That’s exactly what he wanted.”

She shakes her head and heads on outside.

“Well that honeymoon was short lived.” Tony remarks.

“Shut it, Stark.”

Steve quickly follows Bella outside.

“I’m sorry, Bella I…”

She sighs and turns around.

“Steve, I’m not even really so much mad at you. It’s just all this in its entirety. I need to be able to help my best friend, but then General Ross makes plans as we speak. Earth and Asgard are in trouble and we can only be one place at once. That’s why I played along with Loki. He’s our only chance in even getting into Asgard. I need him to believe I’m taking the bait. I’m sorry I hurt you by doing what I had to do. That wasn’t my intention. I’d never want to hurt you Steve. I just couldn’t afford to make Loki mad enough he doesn’t return.”

“How did you know it was Loki?”

“Well for one thing, Thor travels nowhere without his hammer. Thor has never ever called me Isabella. And one other thing…”

She runs her hand along Steve’s chest.

“Thor is still mourning for Jane. He loves her as much as I love you.”

“You still love me even after making a fool out of myself.”

She smiles.

“I will always love you no matter how silly you look old man.”

He chuckles a bit shaking his head.

“Truth of the matter is you handled it like a champ. I’d have ripped any girl that touched you like that in half like a phone book.”

He nods.

“That doesn’t surprise me.”

The Captain America goes over the drill.

“Can you hear me Stark?”
“Loud and clear.”

He nods holding the ear piece closer to him.

“I want you to scout out the entire area. Let us know of any potential threats.”

“I, I, Captain!”

Captain America looks Black Widow and Hawkeye.

“I want you two working the outside of the base. Stay in complete stealth mode until I give the order. Make certain all alarms have been shut down and all guards are taken down. Keep in mind that these are soldiers who’s families are being held hostage. They are not the enemy. Do not take lives unless it is absolutely necessary.”

He looks to his wife.

“You and I will be dropping down here.”

Captain America points to a certain area inside the base.

“It’s going to be tricky. I need you to be on top of your game. We cannot afford to be caught. You and I will be breaking out the hostages. Hulk is on standby until further notice. He’s our heavy hitter we will need him last.”

He has Black Widow and Hawkeye parachute down a ways from the base to remain unseen. After a few more minutes, he looks to She Hulk.

3 thoughts on “Chapter 12 Who’s The Boss”

I have to agree with Bella Fury seems like a crappy leader.no wonder H.Y.D.R.A. could take over S.H.I.EL.D? so easily his internal security sucks. it’s a shame Bella or Bruce can’t just punch Loki in the chest and pull out his heart.were is the government when all of this crap is going down?